Why has the MCHW changed?

 

Video: National Highways’ Chief Highway Engineer introducing the updated MCHW

Reason for change

The Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works (MCHW) is a cornerstone of the construction of motorway and all-purpose trunk roads across the United Kingdom. It provides specification documents, which are a core component of construction contracts.

Following the successful refresh of the “Design Manual for Roads and Bridges” (DMRB) completed in March 2020, a requirement to undertake a full update of the MCHW content and usability was included within the Technical Regulations Protocol attached to National Highways’ License for the second Road Investment Strategy Period (RIS2), running from April 2020 to March 2025.

The former MCHW was dated, with some documents unchanged for over 30 years. The suite of MCHW documents were inconsistent in format and style and included design requirements mixed with requirements for constructors. The MCHW refresh was driven by a desire to digitalise the requirements and make the documents fit for the future. This included making the requirements contract neutral to be compatible with modern and future contract forms and focusing on performance-based requirements to unlock innovation.

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Stakeholder consultation

In 2018, an industry-wide consultation was carried out including 105 organisations from across the industry including contractors, designers, local authorities, trade associations etc. These MCHW users provided feedback on its usability, structure and content.

Key areas of feedback that emerged from the consultation included:

  • Out of date documents
  • Difficult navigation between volumes
  • Inconsistent style and format
  • Need for alignment with the new DMRB
  • Need for ability to use the documents under different types of contracts

The findings from this consultation were used to develop a vision for the future MCHW.

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Future MCHW Vision

“The future MCHW will provide clear and unambiguous requirements and instructions, compatible with modern contract forms and future construction practices.”

This vision was underpinned by fifteen recommendations on how to meet the Technical Regulations Protocol requirements and develop a more user-orientated suite of documents.  The recommendations aimed to:

  • Develop clear and unambiguous constructor requirements, supported by instructions for contract compilers (now referred to as “Specifiers”) on the preparation of contract-specific specifications.
  • Support the delivery of up-to-date requirements that are consistent in style and format.
  • Future-proof the content to unlock the potential of digital innovations (including automated production of contract-specific specifications).
  • Support compatibility with modern contract forms.
  • Align with future construction practices which include decarbonisation, digitalisation, and off-site construction.
  • Facilitate future updates.
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Drafting and review process

Working together, National Highways, the Department for Infrastructure Northern Ireland, Transport Scotland and Welsh Government have refreshed the MCHW in accordance with this vision. The new MCHW has generally been drafted by National Highways Technical specialists, often in partnership with the supply chain involved through relevant frameworks; technical authors were selected for their knowledge and expertise in drafting standards and specifications, as well as site and contractual experience.

All documents have gone through a consultation process involving all directorates of the Overseeing Organisations, including Major Projects, Operations, Asset Management, Procurement, Commercial. Impacts of the changes have been assessed considering safety, EDI, sustainability & carbon, commercial and customer implications among other things.

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Benefits

The benefits of the updated MCHW to the Overseeing Organisations include:

  • current, higher quality, better structured and easier to maintain technical specifications;
  • greater efficiency, quality, and consistency in the production of contract-specific specifications by the supply chain using the new Work Specific Requirements templates;
  • fewer tender queries and compensation events from inconsistencies within or missing works specific information.

The benefits of the updated MCHW to the supply chain include:

  • clearer and up-to-date requirements and instructions;
  • greater efficiency in the production of contract documentation;
  • improved quality of contract-specific specifications;
  • enhanced innovation in project delivery.

Detailed assessment of the changes made to each MCHW and DMRB document was undertaken and this has revealed a range of positive impacts including: (i) environmental considerations – the introduction of more options will contribute to improved sustainable outcomes; (ii) operational considerations – we will be able to see shorter traffic management periods thanks to updated requirements, hence reduced construction programmes, which in turn enhance health and safety practices; (iii) ultimately, these improvements will translate into meaningful benefits for customers.

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Future developments

National Highways maintain a backlog of future enhancements including aspects like leveraging HTML to better access and navigate content, providing a downloadable list of all WSRs and related title. If you have any ideas, please share through the feedback form.